From left: Central campus, 1907; Helen C. White, ca. 1920; George Mosse, ca. 1950-59; Jan Vansina, 1986; Sau Lan Wu, 2008; the “Sifting and Winnowing” plaque on Bascom Hall. (Images courtesy of the UWMadison Archives, and Jeff Miller, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
course offerings from five to 38, and the German
department cemented its reputation as one of the
the first woman to earn the rank of full professor in
strongest and best in the country.
L&S in 1936, who eloquently defended literature’s
L&S attracted curious, innovative thinkers like
place in society: “In times of war, cold or hot, nerves
Frederick Jackson Turner, who wrote and taught
tauten, and minds harden, and hearts grow cold. We
about the significance of the frontier in American
need literature to remind us that men with whom we
history, and Richard T. Ely, an outstanding young
could never agree are yet men, that something of us
economist whose hiring opened a new chapter in
is defiled in their evil, and even though we triumph,
the study of the social sciences.
something of us is buried in their destruction.
Literature keeps these things alive for us.”
In fact, it was Ely’s teaching of “controversial
subjects” such as strikes, boycotts and socialism that
led to the UW Board of Regents issuing the famous
escaped Nazi persecution and came to UW-
“sifting and winnowing” statement in 1894, that has
Madison to teach European intellectual history and
come to define academic freedom at UW-Madison.
Jewish history. His colleagues called him “fearless in
exploring difficult subjects.”
And it was in L&S where the “Wisconsin Idea” took
People like historian George L. Mosse, who
root, when history scholar Charles McCarthy proposed
that University of Wisconsin expertise could and should
Vansina, who reached thousands of years into
be shared to benefit the lives of state citizens.
the past to reclaim the “unknowable” history of
the African Studies program here in the 1950s,
It was people who elevated this college and
made it great. People like the first dean of L&S, Edward A. Birge, who for 27 years, guided the college through transformation and change but always championed the liberal arts’ role in preparing students for life. He spoke of L&S providing “a corps of intelligent citizens” able to offer society the wisdom of past generations, to be used to solve present and future problems.
People like anthropologist and historian Jan
Africa through oral storytelling. Vansina founded
Great people
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People like English Professor Helen C. White,
and then turned his attention to war-torn Rwanda in the 1970s, saying, “I felt that knowledge of Rwanda’s pre-colonial history could contribute to political courses about its future.” Vansina’s legacy extends beyond academia: he worked with journalist Alex Haley to trace his African origins, an endeavor that led to Haley’s blockbuster novel and mini-series, Roots.
L&S Annual Report 2014–2015: The Liberal Arts Advantage